"Lanshu, thank you for all your hard work."
Holding the child, Lu Changsheng entered the room. He looked at Lu Lanshu lying in bed, sat beside her, and gently took her hand.
Although their marriage had been a union of interests with no foundation of affection,
as the saying went, affection grew with time. After spending so long together, and now with their child born, feelings had naturally developed between them.
"Husband."
A smile appeared on Lu Lanshu's pale face as she called out weakly.
"Don't move. Get some rest."
Lu Changsheng spoke softly.
Holding his child and looking at his wife, he felt happiness well up within him.
He felt that continuing like this would be rather nice.
But then he remembered the Chen Lineage's murderous ambush on his journey to Green Bamboo Mountain.
The cruel law of this world, where the strong devoured the weak.
Lu Changsheng knew that happiness, too, needed strength to protect it.
Even setting distant concerns aside, without strength, his children would not even belong to him if he left the Lu Lineage someday.
Besides,
he had been fortunate enough to transmigrate into such a world, gain a chance at immortality, and have a system at his side. He could not resign himself to choosing an ordinary, unremarkable life.
Seeing how weak Lu Lanshu was and knowing she needed rest, Lu Changsheng did not linger in conversation. He told her to rest well and handed the child to the woman beside them.
It was not that he had to surrender the child to the Lu Lineage immediately after birth. He simply did not know how to care for an infant, so he let the woman look after the baby.
As for the child's spiritual root, it would only manifest at five or six years old and could not be tested now.
After leaving the birthing room, Lu Changsheng returned to his own room and silently called out.
System, I want to draw a prize.
Immediately, a pale red virtual prize wheel appeared before his eyes.
It was divided into seven sections: cultivation methods, arts, spirit pets, pills, Magic Treasures, treasures, and miscellaneous.
"It really does have everything."
Lu Changsheng looked at the available prizes, delight showing on his face.
His only complaint was that the prize wheel looked a little like the giant wheels in those money-guzzling Tencent games from his previous life.
It felt unreliable, leaving him a little uneasy.
Could this really give me anything good?
Besides, prize draws in my previous life cost money. In this life, they cost... semen?
The thought felt rather strange...
Forget it. I'll just treat this prize draw as the system's gift to celebrate the birth.
Lu Changsheng stopped letting his thoughts wander and silently said,
Start the draw.
At once, a streak of golden light began circling the pale red wheel.
Five seconds later, the wheel slowed. Under Lu Changsheng's expectant gaze, the golden light stopped on arts.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host on obtaining the Second-Tier Talisman-Making Art!] [The reward has been delivered to the System Space. The host may view it at any time.]
A talisman-shaped orb of light emerged from the great wheel as the system's voice rang out.
With a slight stir of his consciousness, Lu Changsheng saw a talisman-shaped orb of light in the System Space, with information displayed above it.
[Second-Tier Talisman-Making Art: Upon use, directly grants full mastery of second-tier Talisman Making and the corresponding complete collection of talismans.]
"Directly grants full mastery of second-tier Talisman Making!?"
"System, I'm sorry. I admit I was a little narrow-minded at first and let my prejudices get the better of me."
After reading the information, Lu Changsheng's face filled with delighted surprise.
He had never expected to get something this good from his very first draw.
During his time with the Lu Lineage, he had not devoted himself solely to making babies and cultivating.
He had also worked on improving himself and learning about the world of immortal cultivation.
He knew just how precious this Second-Tier Talisman-Making Art was, and how much it was worth.
Just like in the mortal world, Immortal Cultivators had many professions and crafts.
For example, pill refining, Artifact Refining, Talisman Making, formation crafting, beast taming, farming, medicinal cuisine, spiritual appraisal, mineral prospecting... and so on.
In his previous life, there had been a saying: with a craft in hand, you would never starve wherever you went.
The same held true for Immortal Cultivators.
And not only would they never starve, they would be highly sought after, a prized delicacy wherever they went.
That was because an Immortal Cultivator's craft had a much higher threshold. Wanting to learn did not mean you could learn, much less master it.
It demanded considerable talent and money.
Of all these crafts, formation crafting, pill refining, Artifact Refining, and Talisman Making were especially sought after.
The Second-Tier Talisman-Making Art, for instance, concerned talismans of the Foundation Establishment Realm, above Chain Qi.
With this craft alone, he could join certain Lineages or factions and become an honored guest, a guest elder!
Without dwelling on it further, Lu Changsheng stirred his consciousness and used the Second-Tier Talisman-Making Art in the System Space.
In an instant, a torrent of knowledge surged into his mind from nowhere.
"An Introduction to Talismans"
"Complete Collection of Basic Talismans"
"Complete Collection of First-Tier Talismans"
"Complete Collection of Second-Tier Talismans"
"The Remarkable Art of Talisman-Making"
"How Talismans Are Made"
"Talisman-Making: From Beginner to Burial"
A long while later, Lu Changsheng's mind was filled with knowledge about talismans.
He also had the sensation that he had been drawing and making talismans for decades.
He strode over to the desk, picked up a brush, and drew an intricate, mysterious talisman design on a sheet of paper, his brush dancing like dragons and snakes, flowing like clouds and water.
"This feeling is simply incredible!"
"It's just like practicing calligraphy-as though I've been doing it for decades, even a century, without the slightest awkwardness or unfamiliarity."
"Sure enough, anything the system produces is guaranteed to be top quality!"
Lu Changsheng looked at the talisman markings on the white paper, delighted surprise spreading across his face.
He had not been scribbling at random. These were the markings of a First-Tier Lower-Grade Talismans Fire Bullet Talisman.
It had simply failed to become an actual talisman because he had not used a talisman brush, talisman paper, Spirit Ink, or spiritual power.
He could not quite explain the drawing process himself.
It was like eating or drinking, something he had done countless times until it had become muscle memory.
"With the Second-Tier Talisman-Making Art, I can establish myself even if I leave the Lu Lineage!"
"I won't have to worry about finding wives or supporting them and my children!"
Lu Changsheng took a deep breath, his heart surging with excitement.
But after a while, he frowned.
"Still, I can't reveal this Second-Tier Talisman-Making Art right now. I wouldn't be able to explain it, and it might even bring disaster."
As the saying went, an ordinary man was innocent, but possessing a precious jade made him guilty.
He was merely a live-in son-in-law rejected by an immortal sect who had only just begun cultivating. If he suddenly knew Talisman Making, it would surely arouse suspicion and invite trouble.
Moreover, as a live-in son-in-law of the Lu Lineage, he was living under someone else's roof.
Once he revealed his Talisman Making skills, who could
say how the Lu Lineage would react?
He might go from being a "breeding" tool to Talisman-Making Tools.
"I can't rush this. I need to take it slowly. First, I'll buy a set of Talisman Making tools and materials and practice making talismans. Then I'll gradually reveal my talent for Talisman Making to the Lu Lineage, until showing my skills as a first-tier and then Second-Rank Talisman Master becomes perfectly natural."
"That way, I won't arouse suspicion. The Lu Lineage might even value my talent for Talisman Making and raise my status."
Lu Changsheng took a deep breath, considered the matter for a moment, and made up his mind.
Now that he had seen what the system could do and gained the Second-Tier Talisman-Making Art, he felt more confident about this world and his future.
He knew that as long as he remained steady and cautious in everything, had more children, and stirred up less trouble, even if he did not become an immortal patriarch, his future achievements would not be too shabby.
Early the next morning, Lu Changsheng left home, taking out the magical flying sword Lu Yuanding had rewarded him with, and headed toward the Myriad Treasures Pavilion in Green Bamboo Manor.
The Myriad Treasures Pavilion was much like a department store.
It sold practically everything: magical equipment, pills, talismans, spirit rice, spirit vegetables, demon beast meat, everyday necessities, and more.
Every month, Lu Changsheng spent the spirit stones he received on demon beast meat and spirit vegetables at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.
Although pills worked well, they were too expensive.
For someone as poor as him, eating spirit vegetables and demon beast meat offered better value.
Today, he had come to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion to buy a set of talisman-making tools and materials.
As for why he had brought the flying sword, he had no money on him and intended to sell it for funds.
"Shopkeeper, do you sell talisman brushes, talisman paper, and spiritual ink here?"
Upon entering the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, Lu Changsheng addressed the shopkeeper reclining in a chair.
"What do you want those things for?"
The shopkeeper was a gray-haired old man and also a cultivator.
"I want to learn talisman-making, so I'm planning to buy some materials and give it a try."
Lu Changsheng replied.
"Learn talisman-making?"
As though he had heard a joke, the old man could not help laughing.
He looked at Lu Changsheng and said, "Do you know how difficult it is to learn talisman-making?"
There were not many cultivators in Green Bamboo Manor, only a little over a hundred, and he knew practically all of them.
As a live-in son-in-law who had been frantically making babies-five in a year-Lu Changsheng had gained some notoriety in Green Bamboo Manor, leaving a relatively strong impression on the shopkeeper.
"I don't, but my talent is poor. If I keep cultivating like this, I can pretty much see where the road ends. I might as well try learning a craft."
Lu Changsheng shook his head and answered with a bitter smile.
He had worked out these explanations the night before.
"Heh, heh. It's good that you have the ambition, but I'd advise you not to waste your money."
"For a beginner learning talisman-making, failing a hundred times at the start is perfectly normal. If your aptitude is poor, even several hundred failures wouldn't be surprising!"
"And that's just for a single kind of talisman. If you start drawing a different kind, things may be a little better than when you first started, but the failure rate will still be astonishingly high."
"For a beginner to become a graded talisman master takes thousands upon thousands of attempts. Think for yourself how much that would cost."
Seeing that Lu Changsheng had been quite diligent within the Lu Lineage, getting five women pregnant in a single year, the shopkeeper offered him this well-intentioned warning.
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